Luke 21: More than All the Others

Most people, even Christians, dislike talk about money in relation to faith. Religion misusing money has existed from Judas Iscariot and can even be traced to Cain and Abel’s gifts in the first book of the Bible.

Jesus, however, made mention of money frequently. As expected, he spoke of giving in a way far different from the perceptions of those in his time and ours. In the opening of Luke 21 we read:

1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

In this real-life scenario, rich and poor alike offered gifts to God. Anyone watching would think the more money given, the more spiritual a person was. But Jesus spoke directly against this limited mindset.

Instead of evaluation based on number of dollars, Jesus evaluated based on the heart behind the gift.

The poor widow gave everything she had. Her total amount was far less than others who gave, but Jesus called it “more than all the others.”

Still today, God does not look at the number of zeroes on checks given to causes in his name as the basis of evaluation. He looks at the heart.

Our challenge from these words is not to give more, but to give our all to God. May Jesus look upon our gifts and our lives and be able to say we have given “more than all the others.”